The Turkey that the “infidels” in the West do not want to see

In what country in the world is the leadership propagating such verses on social media: “Listen world, I am the child of a martyr. Do not forget that I am a child of the homeland with the crescent, and the blood of my ancestors flows in my veins. We give our lives and we take lives for the Blue Homeland “? The answer to the quiz is obvious and is officially given by Fehreddin Altun, communication director of the Turkish Presidency!

These are the lyrics of the new march (anthem) entitled “Blue Homeland” that Altun announced on Twitter. Verses that are heard say the following: “The infidels became a nation and formed an alliance. The armies of Islam turned to the creator. The lion of the Mediterranean (Hairedin Pasha) drew his sword Zulfikar. Barbarossa Haireddin Pasha with the fleet of Islam struck the alliance of the crusaders in waves.”

At the beginning of the video, two Turkish naval officers knock on the door of a family and two children, a boy and a younger girl open. The two officers give the boy a Turkish flag and a model of a warship. Then comes a flashback to the Turkish naval past and to the pirate and later Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. The message of the video is purely Islamic-jihadist and directly anti-Western, against the “Crusaders” and infidels.

Ben şehit oğluyum kulak ver ey dünya
Ay-yıldızlı vatanın evladıyım unutma
Ecdadımın kanından akar damarlarımda
Can verir can alırız mavi vatan uğruna

Tüm deniz şehit ve gazilerimizin anısına… #PrevezeDenizZaferi pic.twitter.com/bL0MxniQT7

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) September 27, 2020

So, at the moment when the resumption of the exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey is close at hand, Erdogan officially creates an anthem aimed at Turkish society, in which he says that we are taking lives for the “Blue Homeland”. At the same time, think tank ELIAMEP, which influences the decision centers in Athens, says “well, this is the neighbor we have (…) have you a better idea”. The think tank mentions says: “Diplomatic dialogue was invented not to have fun with friends, but to face opponents.”

One would hope that diplomatic dialogue, without national losses, was enough to face opponents. Unfortunately, history proves the opposite and it would be well if this obvious truth was finally realized by most professors of ELIAMEP and especially decision makers.

After all, Turkey is not just any adversary. As it appears from the new official anthem-march for the “Blue Homeland”, is it raising the new generations in 15th century terms of the and under the conditionality of bloodshed? After all, Turkey is the one claiming not onlythe sovereign rights, but also the territory of Greece, with the threat of the use of military force and forced diplomacy. At the same time Greece demands nothing of Turkey.

Cultivation of extreme chauvinism

Let us note that the late Andreas Papandreou was opposed to the negotiations on Greek sovereign rights. What did the British and French negotiating with Nazi Germany in the 1930s achieve? In which country in the world is there a place for the government to exterminate those who stand in the way of its expansionist policy? If we exclude the Islamic State, only in Turkey.

Is a government that has adopted such a policy of cultivating extreme nationalism-chauvinism in Turkish society willing to reach an honest agreement? Are we pretending not to see unbridled violent nationalism? What do all these flags, the violent lyrics, the warlike catechism of Turkish youth have to do with Europe and the values that the EU is supposed to be defending?

We note Turkey is a member of NATO and a candidate for EU membership, even if the accession negotiations are frozen. Is it time for the West as a whole and the EU in particular to get their heads out of the sand and discuss in political honesty what is happening in Turkey, to formulate a policy based on real facts, on the fact that Turkey has Eurasian orientation and that the gap that separates it from the West is not just political, but much deeper, it is a cultural gap.

What is happening with Turkey has nothing to do with the dispute between Greece-Turkey and the opposition of two countries that disagree. This is not a Nagorno-Karabakh or Palestinian crisis where the risks are specific and bilateral. It is clear that Turkey is not culturally and socially in line with Europe.

Turkish academic Bahar Rumelili wrote years ago that Turkey could seek EU membership, as “identities are being made and negotiated …”. It will probably take him many decades to reverse the work that Erdogan has done. And the Greeks and other Europeans can not bet on conjectures …